Wolverine and the X–Men has always been a hit or miss series. I like it because it feels like a spiritual successor to the early '90s cartoon, because it uses obscure characters from X-Comics like New X–Men, and because it always tries to do things in an interesting way while staying true to the spirit of the comic's original story arcs. At the same time, it feels like a lot of the characters on the show act completely out of character, as if the writers have an objective for them that doesn't fit the characters' original personalities. The Final Crisis Trilogy, the final volume collection of the Wolverine and the X–Men series, has all of the good and the bad features of the series. When everything is added up, the story arc of Volume 6 provides a fun, action-packed conclusion, that may have some pacing problems, but is otherwise well-executed.
Volume 6 consists of a three part episode ("Foresight") that is half recreation of the Hellfire Club story arc from the Dark Phoenix Saga in Uncanny X–Men, and half Magneto acting megalomaniacal on Genosha while trying to destroy all humans. Some big things happen, and a lot of the major plot threads from earlier in the series are finally tied up. "Foresight" begins with Logan tracking the recently re-kidnapped Jean Grey. As he follows the kidnapper's scent, he begins to unravel some of the secrets held by Emma Frost. Frost plays innocent, but is actually complicit in the kidnapping. As the White Queen of the Hellfire club, she is determined to extract the powerful Phoenix force that had implanted itself in Jean Grey's mind.
Meanwhile, The Scarlet Witch discovers that Magneto has started calling some of his disgraced followers back to the island of Genosha in anticipation of a new attack on America, in a ploy to start another race war. The action builds from there as the X–Men are torn between saving Jean, stopping Magneto, and preventing the humans from hunting mutants to extinction, and soon all of the elements combine into an action sequence reminiscent to the human/mutant turmoil long hinted at in the show's opening sequence. Throughout the episodes, the actions frequently cut to the future, where Charles Xavier is helping a band of mutant rebels escape from an omnipresent government determined to wipe out mutant-kind once and for all, all while he attempts to contact Wolverine to get him to prevent this horrible, dystopian future from happening.
There is a lot of stuff going on in the story, and the pacing suffers as a result. This is especially prominent early on in "Foresight," as the action cuts between vastly different scenes in an attempt to get all the balls rolling. The result is similar to a soap opera or a long running anime: the audience is asked to follow too many stories at once. At the same time, using all of these different elements does lead to a satisfying payoff, and the writers use as many characters as they need to in order to resolve the myriad loose ends established over the run of Wolverine and the X–Men.
The other character that seems off in these final episodes is Emma Frost. Frost is put into her classic role as the White Queen of the Hellfire club, but she is forced to balance that with the slightly-less-evil Emma Frost of more recent times, which is the template that the series has used for the character thus far. The balance doesn't quite hold, and the diamond-skinned character is given a soft side to let the plot proceed, which is disappointing when compared to the ice cold renditions of Emma Frost in previous stories.
The action-packed finale to Wolverine and the X–Men does an excellent job of wrapping up the season, and is sure to please fans of the series. The pacing drags a bit, and some of the characters feel weak compared to previous iterations, but for the most part, it provides some of the best animated X–Men action in years, and fans of previous X–Men series shouldn't hesitate to check out Wolverine and the X–Men whenever they can.
ComicsOnline gives Wolverine and the X–Men: Final Crisis Trilogy four out of five Phoenix-possessed Stepford Cuckoos.
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